As an alternative to emailing as file attachments, you can send and receive documents electronically. By electronic document is meant a standard-compliant file representing a business document, such as an invoice from a vendor that you can receive and convert to a purchase invoice in Microsoft Dynamics NAV. The exchange of electronic documents between two trading partners is performed by an external provider of document exchange services. The generic version of Microsoft Dynamics NAV supports sending and receiving electronic invoices and credit memos in the PEPPOL format, which is supported by the largest providers of document exchange services. A major provider of document exchange services is preconfigured and ready to be set up for your company. To provide support for other electronic document formats, you must create new date exchange definitions using the Data Exchange Framework.

From PDF or image files representing incoming documents, you can have an external OCR service (Optical Character Recognition) create electronic documents that you can then convert to document records in Microsoft Dynamics NAV, like for electronic PEPPOL documents. For example, when you receive an invoice in PDF format from your vendor, you can send it to the OCR service from the Incoming Documents window. After a few seconds, you receive the file back as an electronic invoice that can be converted to a purchase invoice for the vendor. If you send the file to the OCR service by email, then a new incoming document record is automatically created when you receive the electronic document back.

To send, for example, a sales invoice as an electronic PEPPOL document, you select the Electronic Document option in the Post and Send dialog box. From here, you can also set up the customer’s default document sending profile. First, you must set up various master data, such as company information, customers, items, and units of measure. These are used to identify the business partners and items when you convert data in fields in Microsoft Dynamics NAV to elements in the outgoing document file. The data conversion and sending of the PEPPOL sales invoice are performed by dedicated codeunits and XMLports, represented by the PEPPOL electronic document format.

To receive, for example, an invoice from a vendor as an electronic PEPPOL document, you process the document in the Incoming Documents window to convert it to a purchase invoice in Microsoft Dynamics NAV. You can either set up the Job Queue feature to process such files regularly or you can start the process manually. First, you must set up various master data, such as company information, vendors, items, and units of measure. These are used to identify the business partners and items when you convert data in elements in the incoming document file to fields in Microsoft Dynamics NAV. The receiving and data conversion of PEPPOL invoices are performed by the Data Exchange Framework, represented by the PEPPOL - Invoice data exchange definition.

To receive, for example, an invoice as an electronic OCR document, you process it as when you receive an electronic PEPPOL document. The receiving and conversion of electronic documents from OCR are performed by the Data Exchange Framework, represented by the OCR - Invoice data exchange definition.

The formats of files for exchange of bank data with ERP systems vary depending on the supplier of the file and on the country/region. The generic version of Microsoft Dynamics NAV supports import and export of SEPA bank files (Single Euro Payments Area) and a bank data conversion service provided by external provider, AMC Consult. To provide support for other electronic document formats, you use the Data Exchange Framework.

To export SEPA credit transfers, you choose Export Payments to File button in the Payment Journal window and then upload the file to process the payments in your bank. First you must set up various master data, such as bank account, vendors, and payment methods. The data conversion and export of SEPA bank data is performed by a dedicated codeunit and XMLport, represented by the SEPA Credit Transfer bank export/import setup. Alternatively, you can set up the bank data conversion service to perform the export, represented by the Bank Data Conversion Service - Credit Transfer data exchange definition.

To export SEPA direct debit instructions, you choose the Export Direct Debit File button in the Direct Debit Collections window and then send to your bank to automatically collect the involved customer payments. First you must set up bank accounts, customers, direct-debit mandates, and payment methods. The data conversion and export of SEPA bank data is performed by dedicated a codeunit and XMLport, represented by the SEPA Direct Debit bank export/import setup.

To import SEPA bank statements, you choose the Import Bank Statement button in the Payment Reconciliation Journal and Bank Acc. Reconciliation windows and then you proceed to apply each bank statement entry to payments or bank ledger entries, manually or automatically. First you must set up bank accounts. The import and data conversion of SEPA bank data is performed by the Data Exchange Framework, represented by the SEPA CAMT data exchange definition. Alternatively, you can set up the bank data conversion service to perform the import, represented by the Bank Data Conversion Service - Bank Statement data exchange definition.

In addition, the local versions of Microsoft Dynamics NAV support various other file formats for import/export of bank data, payroll transactions, and other data. For more information, see the “Local Functionality” Help section in your country version of Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

You can set up an external service to keep your for currency exchange rates up to date. The service that provides updated currency exchange rates is enabled by a data exchange definition. Accordingly, the Currency Exch. Rate Service window is a condensed view of the Data Exchange Definition window for the data exchange definition in question.

For all exchanges of data in XML files, you can prepare the data exchange setup by loading the related XML schema file in the XML Schema Viewer window. Here you select the data elements that you want to exchange with Microsoft Dynamics NAV and then you either initialize a data exchange definition or generate an XMLport.

The following table describes a sequence of tasks, with links to the topics that describe them.

Concepts